After the balance sheet date, the following dividends were declared by the Managing Board:

Dividend

2017

2016

Per cumulative preference share A: €0.17 (2016: €0.17)

8

8

Per ordinary share: €1.85 (2016: €1.75)

323

306

Total

331

314

The proposed final dividend on ordinary shares is subject to approval by the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders and has not been deducted from Equity.

For a description of the rules of profit appropriation and of the statutory rights attached to preference shares B, see Profit appropriation.

Share capital

On 31 December 2017, the authorized capital amounted to €1,125 million (2016: €1,125 million), distributed over 330,960,000 ordinary shares, 44,040,000 cumulative preference shares A and 375,000,000 cumulative preference shares B. All shares have a nominal value of €1.50 each.

The changes in the number of issued and outstanding shares in 2016 and 2017 are shown in the following table.

Overview of shares

Issued shares

Treasury shares

Ordinary

Cumprefs A

Ordinary

Balance at 1 January 2016

181,425,000

44,040,000

6,501,973

Reissue of shares in connection with share-based payments

(3,243,102)

Repurchase of shares

5,200,000

Dividend in the form of ordinary shares

(2,035,537)

Balance at 31 December 2016

181,425,000

44,040,000

6,423,334

Number of treasury shares at 31 December 2016

(6,423,334)

-

Number of shares outstanding at 31 December 2016

175,001,666

44,040,000

Balance at 1 January 2017

181,425,000

44,040,000

6,423,334

Reissue of shares in connection with share-based payments

(2,238,144)

Repurchase of shares

4,500,000

Dividend in the form of ordinary shares

(1,903,665)

Balance at 31 December 2017

181,425,000

44,040,000

6,781,525

Number of treasury shares at 31 December 2017

(6,781,525)

-

Number of shares outstanding at 31 December 2017

174,643,475

44,040,000

The average number of ordinary shares outstanding in 2017 was 174,794,656 (2016: 175,099,827). All shares issued are fully paid.

The cumulative preference shares A have been classified as equity because there is no mandatory redemption and distributions to the shareholders are at the discretion of DSM.

On 31 December 2017, no cumulative preference shares B were outstanding.

Share premium

Of the total share premium of €489 million (2016: €489 million), an amount of €101 million (2016: €104 million) can be regarded as entirely free of tax.

Treasury shares

At 31 December 2017, DSM possessed 6,781,525 ordinary shares (nominal value €10 million, 3.01% of the share capital). The average purchase price of the ordinary treasury shares was €58.70. At 31 December 2017, 6,706,342 of the total number of treasury shares outstanding were held for servicing management and personnel share-option rights and share plans. The remainder, 75,183 shares, is the balance of the holding for this purpose at start of the year, the shares that were purchased under the company's share buy-back program in 2017 and shares that were reissued as stock dividend in 2017.

At 31 December 2016, DSM possessed 6,423,334 ordinary shares (nominal value €10 million, 2.85% of the share capital). The average purchase price of the ordinary treasury shares was €52.77. At 31 December 2016, 6,044,486 of the total number of treasury shares outstanding were held for servicing management and personnel share-option rights. The remainder − 378,848 shares − is the balance of shares that were purchased under the company's share buy-back program in 2007, 2008 and 2016 and shares that were reissued as stock dividend in the years 2011 through 2016.

Other reserves in Shareholders' equity

Translation reserve

Hedging reserve

Reserve for share-based compensation

Fair value reserve

Total

Balance at 1 January 2016

314

(203)

63

(3)

171

Changes:

Fair-value changes of derivatives

-

(52)

-

-

(52)

Release to income statement

(19)

52

-

-

33

Release to deferred items

-

(4)

-

-

(4)

Fair-value changes of other financial assets

-

-

-

7

7

Exchange differences

216

-

-

-

216

Options and performance shares granted

-

-

32

-

32

Options and performance shares exercised/canceled

-

-

(30)

-

(30)

Reclassification1

18

(2)

-

4

20

Income tax

1

2

-

-

3

Total changes

216

(4)

2

11

225

Balance at 31 December 2016

530

(207)

65

8

396

Changes:

Fair-value changes of derivatives

-

98

-

-

98

Release to income statement

(14)

(39)

-

-

(53)

Fair-value changes of other financial assets

-

-

-

(3)

(3)

Exchange differences

(610)

-

-

-

(610)

Options and performance shares granted

-

-

26

-

26

Options and performance shares exercised/canceled

-

-

(22)

-

(22)

Reclassification

-

-

(18)

-

(18)

Changes in joint ventures and associates

(4)

7

-

-

3

Income tax

(9)

(7)

-

-

(16)

Total changes

(637)

59

(14)

(3)

(595)

Balance at 31 December 2017

(107)

(148)

51

5

(199)

1 Reclassification to retained earnings.

The decrease in the Translation reserve in 2017 is mainly caused by strengthening of the euro compared to the US dollar, Swiss franc, Chinese renminbi and the Brazilian real. As a consequence the value of the subsidiaries in those countries decreased, which led to a negative exchange difference of €610 million. Next to this there was a €14 million release of the cumulative translation reserve of Patheon to the income statement.

The Translation reserve, Hedging reserve and the Fair value reserve are legal reserves in accordance with Dutch law and cannot be distributed to shareholders. Additional information is provided in Note 7 to the 'Parent company financial statements'.